It's been a terribly busy week and a bit. With the new job starting last week, and a whole lot of other things on my plate, i ended up putting in 12 to 15 hour days every day last week - i'd leave for work at 7:30am, and get home around 10pm. Then between a funeral and babysitting a 3 year old for 24 hours on the weekend, i didn't get any rest then either. This week is a bit better, but still pretty packed. It sure feels later in the week than Tuesday.

The new job is going well, i really enjoy it and my coworkers. My supervisor (well, one of the two) knows i'm pregnant now, so that's a weight off my shoulders. She was very excited for me.

More to come later, it's past my bedtime right now.

on a sadder note...

My former supervisor, Lorrie, from my undergraduate thesis passed away on Sunday after a four month battle with cancer.

The link to her story is on the side (just type lorriesippola into the first box under "site name"). She was a remarkable woman and mentor and teacher, and I am honored to have known her and had a chance to learn from her, about developmental psychology and about life. She was the first female prison guard in Saskatchewan, and was an incredibly strong woman. I think those who knew her kinda thought that if anyone could beat cancer, it would be her, so to know she's gone now is tough.

(She was the owner of Kita and Daisy, the two adorable dogs we babysat in spring.)

ok, ok, an update (finally)

It's been a busy week. But good.

So far, i've made it through the first two days in my new job, and actually have really enjoyed myself so far. I am already feeling pretty comfortable being there, and am getting to know some of my colleagues a bit. Everyone is very friendly and helpful and welcoming, which makes it really easy to be the newbie there.

The director has even come to say hi both days, gave me a very nice welcome yesterday on my first day. He's the type who will go around to all the offices and greet all the staff each day. They gave me my very own CCHSA coffee mug, and am already part of the social club. My supervisor is very warm and friendly, and i have had a chance to do a lot of reading and learning background information for the study on which i will be working.

Right now i'm sharing an office with a very quiet guy named David, he's a research tech there in microbiology, but is between projects right now so work is pretty slow for him these days. He mostly sits and reads. My very own office should be ready in a couple weeks once the U. surplus assets team comes and cleans all the old computer stuff out of my room. And guess what? My office has a WINDOW! to the OUTDOORS! i have NEVER had a window in my workspace before at the U.

I definitely think i'm going to like it there. The project is pretty interesting, and the work i'll be doing is very similar to my last job EXCEPT I will not be the one primarily responsible for the project, which will be a LOT of stress off my back! Hey, less responsibility for more pay is always good, especially when i hope to be able to minimize my stress over the next six months.

So yeah, now i just have to figure out the best time to tell them i'm only staying 'till June...

haven't seen one this bad in years...

glad i'm at home today, hopefully tony makes it home ok.

EDIT: Tony is safe and sound at my parents', all the rest of my family and his are safe n sound, his dad (who does short haul trucking in s'toon area) is holed up at a farmer's house with his coworkers, my sister is at the university, but we're all safe where we are and staying put.

(we're in the middle of a huge nasty blizzard for those of you who aren't from here and have no clue what's going on.)

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas day at the Epp's today....Anthony's sister was away for almost all of December preparing for her friend's wedding, so we all decided to postpone the family christmas celebratino until she could join us.

So today is Christmas....AND it's Ukranian Christmas as well. Being half Ukranian (my mom is 100% Ukr.), we've always done a bit to celebrate each year on Jan 6 - not the full fledged traditional Ukranian feast and customs, but our own version of it, usually involving a huge perogie and cabbage roll meal, a wheat dish (honey, wheat, poppyseeds, and cream) that is an acquired taste which I have taken to strongly and love having, even though it's only once a year, and sometimes some baked goods from mom's childhood.

This year, due to Epp christmas today, we're having the Nelson Ukranian Christmas feast on Sunday (that sounds funny, nelson and Ukranian typically don't go together - that would be the swedish side of the family, Owchar is the Ukranian side) Today will be a big turkey dinner, and I have offered to bring a bit of Ukranian heritage to the mennonite/english Epp gathering by making a perogie and ham lunch.

The filling and dough are waiting for me, though, so i'd best get at it. Have a Merry Ukranian Christmas! And remember, it's a great excuse to go eat perogies and such if you can find some today.

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by the way, if anyone wants to learn to make perogies and/or cabbage rolls, let me know. They're very straightforward and you can make dozens of them for much cheaper than you can buy them - and they taste better! Leon's girlfriend's mom took me off guard a couple weeks ago when she asked if i could come give her a lesson...

i have a job!

so i got a call this afternoon, and i was offered the position which i interviewed for yesterday.

i start on Jan 15 (yay for another week off to bum around - anyone wanna do coffee?), and it's a 6 month term position to start with.

It's amazing to see how God has provided, how he has once again proved himself faithful in taking care of us. Sometimes it was hard to trust/believe that He would bring something along, but here you have it.

A new bundle of joy...

In coming home to post about my interview, i almost forgot to do this post as well (it's been quite the day)....my best friend Lynnette and her husband Brian had their baby this morning - a boy, Lincoln, at 5:20am - 8lb 10 oz.... (and she's about 5'2" and 120 pounds....yeah.)

She was supposed to get induced yesterday morning, but when they got to the hospital she was 2cm dilated and baby had dropped, so they sent her to the mall to walk around until after supper. When they went back, she was 4cm, so they said they'd keep her in, they went walking around some more and at 10pm her water broke, and things went quite quickly after that.

Baby and mom and dad are all doing fine....

the interview...

Well, it went quite well, i felt good about nearly all my answers, and the questions they asked about specific experience with different tasks i'd be doing, i've done those things at my old job so i was able to give them good examples of how i've done such in the past.

When Louise (who would be my supervisor) and I were in the meeting room waiting for the director and another lady to arrive, she was mentioning how much she liked how i had donemy resume....always a good way to start off for an interview...

They want the job to start ASAP, they will call my references this week and i should know by the end of the week either way. They were very nice people. And the job sounds great - it would be predominantly running a project on agriculture injuries in Sk, surveying 8000 families and then following up with them to see if there have been any farm injuries.... it sounds like the job could stretch 2-3 years if i wanted it that long (if i get it, of course)...but the initial term is 6 mo, so i would only have to sign on for that long. But it sounds like the kind of place where if an opening came up after my mat leave i could get back on very quickly. Full health/dental benefits start immediately (even for term positions), and if you're there over 2 years you get a pension. So maybe this is my calling....

Oh, and the salary minimum is more per month than my last job, and they would take into consideration my education and 3yrs experience on top of that.....this all sounds too good to be true. I'm glad i only have to wait 2 days to find out. And i'm glad they're calling either way.

It's out of my hands now, so i'm just praying if this is the job for me, then it will be.

we're back!

So, back from 4 days in lovely Montana, had a wedding down there this past weekend. Anthony's whole family went and it was a good trip.

Got lots of shopping done, yay for cheap mat clothes! And for Bath & Body works!

More baby-specifics from the trip at babyepp....

On another note, my best friend Lynnette (yeah, i know, we have the same name) is getting induced today....they went in for 9am this morning, and now i'm just waiting and praying.

And on yet another note, i have a JOB INTERVIEW tomorrow! It's a position similar to what i have been doing up to Dec 31, it's at RUH, and it's a 6 month term position, so it's looking pretty perfect, i hope this is what God has in store for me..... it's at 10am tomorrow, so send up a little prayer then if you think of me :)